Iran inaugurated a $590 million natural gas liquids (NGL) plant on the Persian Gulf island of Siri. It is projected that the Siri NGL plant will have about $500 million of sales annually, the Shana News Agency quoted National Iranian Offshore Oilfields Company Managing Director Mahmoud Zirakchianzadeh as saying on Thursday.

It will save about 7 million barrels of diesel fuel, valued at $600 million, which has been supplied to the country's power plants annually up to now, he noted.

The plant will produce 1,400 barrels of gas condensates, 1,500 barrels of pentane, 4,000 barrels of butane, and 8,000 barrels of propane per day, Zirakchianzadeh said.

Some of the output of the new plant will be produced from associated gas, also known as flare gas or associated petroleum gas, which is a form of natural gas that is commonly found associated with deposits of petroleum.

Whether in industrial plants or at oil and gas production sites, flaring constitutes a hazard to human health and also significantly contributes to the worldwide anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide.

Associated gas could benefit the country, but most of it is flared, causing massive losses for the nation, he noted.

About 40 million cubic meters of associated gas is burnt every day at Iranian oil fields, causing around $3 billion of losses for the country annually.